Miami Beach commissioners have adopted regulations that require enhanced visibility measures, active monitoring, adequate insurance and proper documentation from operators of personal delivery devices and mobile carriers.
The item was initially proposed by Kristen Rosen Gonzalez, a former city commissioner. After her term ended, Commissioner Tanya Katzoff Bhatt picked it up as a sponsor and added more regulations.
“We’ve narrow sidewalks that were designed 100 years ago plus that did not contemplate bicycles and delivery robots and people with strollers and ADA mobility devices, and yet we are being forced to accept these onto our streets. So this is making the best of an unfortunate situation,” Commissioner Bhatt said.
As part of the required visibility enhancements, devices operating on public sidewalks or crosswalks must be equipped with a vertical safety flag or pennant, emit a periodic audible sound when in motion and be equipped with forward and rear-facing lights or reflectors. They can’t display commercial advertisements except for the name of the owner of the device.
The operator of any personal delivery device must file documentation and provide a 24-hour operator contact number prior to operating within city limits. They must also submit an insurance certificate annually that demonstrates general liability coverage of at least $100,000 per occurrence and execute a hold-harmless and indemnification agreement – an agreement that releases one party from liabilities such as damage, bodily injury or financial loss – in favor of the city.
Under operational restrictions, devices must comply with all requirements outlined in a state statute about personal delivery devices and mobile carriers. They can’t obstruct pedestrian movement or impede access to buildings, ADA ramps, fire hydrants, transit stops or public infrastructure. They must always yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and obey a speed limit of eight miles per hour on sidewalks or crosswalks.
Additionally, they can’t remain idle or stationary on a public sidewalk for longer than 30 consecutive minutes unless engaged in an active delivery or retrieval. They can’t operate on any city Beachwalk or Baywalk.
The new ordinance requires operators of personal delivery devices and mobile carriers to register with the city and receive an annual operation permit priced at $100 per device. Permits may be denied, suspended or removed for noncompliance. After a six-month grace period, violators will face enforcement and penalties that may result in fines, impoundment of the device or suspension of the operator’s city-issued permit.
In addition to the set of protocols, a survey is to collect data on the city’s sidewalks to evaluate where the devices pose a hazard.
“But separate from this, and this was passed on consent, was an item to do a survey of the sidewalks in our city to better understand whether or not they pose an actual hazard in some places and we will take that up separately when we have actual data points and, at that time, I will come back with photographs of standoffs and tipped-over machines and people trying to figure out which way to go and near misses in traffic and actual collisions,” Ms. Bhatt said. “But in the meanwhile, we’re going to try and make this as safe as we can for our pedestrians, who should take precedence over corporate profit.”
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